Dear Fellows,
Empowered by statute to set, vet and monitor standards for medical and dental specialists, and blessed with the fortune of having our own customer-built edifice -- thanks to the generous contribution of the Government, our own Fellows and benefactors -- it only stands to reason that the Academy should provide as much as possible infrastructures to facilitate our Academy Colleges to develop multi-facetted Continuing Medical Education/ Continuous Professional Development (CME/CPD) programmes and to help our Fellows on their paths to life long learning. Similarly, it must also be the prerogative of the Academy to provide a suitable environment, conducive of continuous learning and a congenial atmosphere for the development of brotherhood.
It is on these principles that your Council has decided to take some bold steps as a service to our Colleges and Fellows.
Membership and Learning Management System
As a start, we will develop a Membership and Learning Management System (MLMS) where CME programmes could be introduced by the different Colleges in the Academy��s website. Respective Fellows could also interact via the web and thus gain the necessary CME accreditations. Registration of CME accredited programmes, such as workshops and lectures, will be done through an ��electronic reader�� on the production of a Fellow��s personalized ��smart card��. It is hoped that this will eventually be linked to accredited overseas CME programmes. Needless to say, included in the pipeline will be taped significant lectures from various Colleges for Fellows to revisit.
All these in the basic package the Academy plans to provide at no charge to either the Colleges or our Fellows.
It will be an expensive undertaking. Yet this is the least the Academy could and should provide within the ambit of our defined role.
A tendering exercise is now in progress conducted by a special task force consisting of mainly our Fellows with Information Technology professional knowhow. Hopefully this endeavour could be implemented in a few months�� time.
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Library and Other Facilities
Discussions are now in the final stage to develop the third floor of the Academy Building into a library, a members�� lounge with recreational facilities and an exhibition hall. No educational institution is complete without an up-to-date library. It is the Academy��s intention, therefore, to have such a setup that will serve as an electronic library with proper IT and intranet connections, and at the same time, a collection of archives of medicine. In fact, an array of archives and medical literatures of nostalgia donated by senior Fellows are in the Academy��s procession.
Ample facilities will be available for our members to relax in a harmonious setting to nurture the spirit of medical and dental friendship. For the health conscious, an exercise room with the necessary amenities will be available.
At the time of this writing, through the efforts of one of our Fellows, a donor has been secured to do all the architectural and building work at no cost. Even exercise machines of various forms have been acquired through donations solicited by another enthusiastic Fellow. The Academy might have to contribute towards the necessary basic furniture. To all of them -- the donors and our active Fellows, we offer our thanks. They will no doubt be properly recognized and acknowledged when the architectural fete is completed.
To benefit all in the medical and dental professions, the Academy aims to extend these facilities to those who are not yet our members.
Your Council looks forward to seeing a more user-friendly Academy Building that is proudly our own!
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C.H. Leong
President
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